Food industry predictions for 2036: Overview
- AI will accelerate manufacturing innovation and supply chain resilience
- Personalised nutrition and healthspan goals will increasingly drive demand
- Food tribes will fragment markets beyond traditional mass categories
- Retail will shift towards experiences while routine purchases automate
- Water scarcity geopolitics and climate pressures will reshape production
The food industry is changing faster than ever before.
From advances in AI to the impact of climate change, powerful forces are reshaping the industry, transforming how products are developed, manufactured, sold and consumed.
But what does this mean for the future of food?
We sat down with food futurists, Tony Hunter and Mike Lee, to find out.
All change
According to Hunter and Lee, the next decade will be defined by fragmentation, artificial intelligence, personalised nutrition, and a growing convergence between food and health.
The result is an industry that looks dramatically different from the one we recognise today.
The scale of that transformation can’t be overstated. As technology advances and consumer priorities evolve, many of the assumptions that have underpinned the industry for decades are being challenged.
And nowhere is that shift more evident than in the way companies think about consumers themselves.
The end of the mass market
For most of the 20th century, success in food came from creating products that appealed to as many consumers as possible. By 2036, that model may be largely obsolete.
Lee believes consumers will increasingly organise themselves into distinct “food tribes”, from high-protein enthusiasts and GLP-1 users to plant-based consumers and keto followers. Rather than a handful of dominant consumer trends, the market will splinter into countless overlapping communities, each with its own values, influencers and purchasing habits.
The future, he explains, is not one big market moving in the same direction. It’s lots of smaller groups wanting very different things.
Tony Hunter agrees, predicting that personalisation will become one of the industry’s defining characteristics. Consumers will increasingly demand products tailored to their individual health requirements rather than generic solutions designed for the average shopper.
For manufacturers, the challenge will be balancing efficiency with increasingly bespoke consumer demands.
Food as medicine
Perhaps the most significant shift will be the blurring of boundaries between diet and health.
Hunter argues the traditional food industry is slowly disappearing, transforming instead into part of the broader health economy.
Consumers will increasingly eat with healthspan in mind, rather than simply seeking calories, indulgence or convenience. As a result, categories linked to preventative health, wellness and longevity could see substantial growth.
“Food needs to become a source of wellness, not illness,” says Hunter.
That could create major opportunities for functional foods, personalised nutrition platforms and products designed to support specific health outcomes.
AI becomes the decision-maker
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming elements of food manufacturing. By 2036, its influence could extend across the entire value chain.
Lee believes AI will increasingly manage quality control, manufacturing optimisation and supply chain forecasting – areas where pattern recognition and prediction are crucial.
And Hunter goes even further, suggesting AI could revolutionise product development itself.
Lengthy 18-month innovation cycles may become relics of the past as AI-powered systems rapidly generate concepts, formulate products and predict market success. New product development could move from months to weeks, allowing brands to respond to trends in near real time.
Yet both believe humans will remain essential.
While AI may identify opportunities and optimise processes, understanding taste, culture, emotion and consumer desire remains a uniquely human capability.
As Lee notes, a product can be nutritionally perfect without delivering a meaningful eating experience.
Added to this, how people buy food could change dramatically.
Supermarkets are unrecognisable
Hunter predicts the supermarkets of today could largely disappear, replaced by AI-driven purchasing systems that automatically order everyday essentials based on a person’s nutritional needs, preferences and lifestyle goals.
Routine purchases, he says, could become almost entirely automated.
Physical retail, meanwhile, may evolve into a destination focused on discovery, education and experiences. Consumers may visit stores less to buy staples and more to explore new products, attend cooking demonstrations or receive personalised nutrition guidance.
In this vision, supermarkets resemble showrooms and community hubs rather than traditional grocery stores.
Resilience overtakes efficiency
For years, food companies have optimised supply chains for efficiency. The future may demand a different approach.
Our futurists identify different risks, but both point towards an increasingly volatile operating environment.
Lee sees geopolitics and cyberattacks as the most immediate threats. Supply chains are becoming more interconnected and more digitally dependent, creating new vulnerabilities.
While Hunter believes water scarcity represents the greatest long-term challenge, stating that “water is life and water is becoming scarcer”. As climate change alters rainfall patterns and demand for freshwater rises, companies will face growing pressure to produce more with fewer resources.
The consequence: resilience, flexibility and resource security may become just as important as cost reduction.
Food production becomes localised
Globalisation is also expected to evolve.
Hunter predicts nations will pursue greater food sovereignty, seeking to reduce dependence on international supply chains after years of disruption caused by pandemics, conflict and trade tensions.
This could result in more localised production systems and increased investment in technologies capable of producing food with limited land and water inputs.
At the same time, emerging innovations could help reduce resource constraints. Hunter points to advances in energy technology as an underappreciated force that could reshape food production economics over the next decade.
Thinking ahead
When asked which companies are most likely to succeed in the future, both agreed it depends on mindset.
Lee believes successful manufacturers will maintain strong core businesses while investing aggressively in disruptive innovation. They’ll follow major trends without becoming captive to them, while simultaneously identifying emerging consumer needs before competitors do.
Hunter argues businesses must move beyond short-term crisis management and embrace long-term foresight.
In a world where change is accelerating, thinking linearly may become a competitive disadvantage.
The food industry in 2036
While neither futurist claims to know exactly what the industry will look like in a decade, both agree on the industry’s path.
The food sector of 2036 is likely to be more personalised, more health-focused and more AI-enabled than today’s market.
Consumers will expect products tailored to their unique needs, retailers will become experience destinations, and supply chains will prioritise resilience alongside efficiency.
Most importantly, the industry’s biggest opportunities may no longer come from serving everyone.
They’ll come from understanding increasingly specific consumer needs and delivering solutions that are healthier, smarter and more relevant than ever before.
